WOYWW

I was chatting on a forum yesterday about computer desks and thought that it would be a good one to share today for WOYWW.

Now there is no denying that I am a messy crafter, you've already seen the evidence for that, but I do have to share this desk with SMO and he is the messiest of messiest in all matters relating to personal belongings.

The box file, cricket magazines and mini cricketing teddy just below the screen are all his for a start.  There is just about room to operate the mouse!  The tall stack on the right consists of the old hard drive that got a virus, box of paper and basket of kids stuff, topped off with a red spade from a seaside bucket and spade set.  After all, you never know when you will need one whilst surfing the net.

Next to the mouse you might be able to spot a pile of CD-Roms.  I never use them and have dug them out to give away.  They were all free with magazines and none have ever been used. There is:

#My Craft Studio - Winter Wonderland volume one (looks like a lot of glamorous ladies and fairies on the front)

#DoCrafts volume 2 - flora and fauna

#Another Docrafts
#Papercraft Essentials craft collections I and II plus a 3rd called digital essentials
#Crafters Companion - sampler
#Crafters Companion- a touch of Christmas
Please leave me a comment or an e-mail if you want one.

We are nearly half-way through the month so a quick plug/reminder for By The Cute And Girly where the challenge this month is 'Cute and Girly' - here's one of my DT pieces that I made for the Dinky Diva.

One of the reasons we love our challenge is that there is no restriction on the type of craft and we try to use themes that could be followed by as many crafts as we can think of.  So if you make jewellery, needlework, paint or of course papercraft please pop along and join in with us.

That's it from me for today.  Don't forget to click over to Julia's blog and treat yourself to a cuppa and a nosey at everyone's workdesks.

** Kate **  

Blog Post Editing

As readers of this blog will know, I have been moaning for ages now that my posts won't edit properly and that I can't get rid of the 4 line gaps between paragraphs.  Well, I had a quick look on Blogger 'Known Issues' and discovered that I was using an old version of the post editor.

I've updated to the new one and this is the result.  Not quite the same but I'm sure I can get used to it.  There's even a preview button to see what your posts will look like.

If you've a blog hosted by Blogger and think you need to update then go to Settings, Basic and select the newest post editor - down near the bottom of the page.

** Kate **

Grungy Monday #3

I am absolutely thrilled to be a guest designer, along with Hels, for this week's Grungy Monday challenge - thank you Linda.

For those that don't know it, there is a challenge every Monday at the Studio L3 blog inspired by the man himself Tim Holtz. There's a product challenge for you to try out this week - Ranger (Adirondack) Color Wash.

Now this was a new one on me and what a discovery! The spray can be used on cloth, paper, canvas, wood - any porous surface. Yes that means hands and worktops too so make sure you have the area well covered when you spray it.

It's much more intense than other colour sprays I have, but still water soluble if you want to spritz it to dilute the colour down.

For my canvas I have used a Tim holtz mask and then sprayed over the top with Lettuce and Stream colours.

For the flower I've used Purple Twilight. The outer material is a cotton and the zip is more synthetic, taking the dye still but giving a different shade of purple, yum. (By the way, I bought my sprays at Cuddly Buddly.)

For the rest of the canvas I have used:

• Cogs from Eco Green Crafts, sprayed with chalkboard mist, then smeared with Tarnished Brass Distress Stickles and finally inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.


• Butterflies punched from old sheet music, inked and decorated with BasicGrey pearls.


• Tissue tape, pin and ticket all from Tim Holtz's range.


• Button from local haberdashers and tag from a pair of Gap jeans.


• Finally a bit of stamping using VersaFine ink and Pink Paislee stamps.

But wait, stop the press, there's more....................

This week Grungy Monday challenge #3 has a sponsor.Here's a quick quote from the founder Robyn.......... "Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium is a Club for Heavily Discounted PaperCrafting Supplies. You must be a member of our Yahoo Group to shop.. In our Group we discuss techniques to Paper Crafting and have some wonderful Challenges and Swaps.. We also discuss the products of our Crafts.. Once you are a member of the club you can view the prices and then shop at the Emporium.. There are no fees to join.. Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium is a division of I Did It Creations.."

Robyn will choose a winner from this week's entries to receive a $20 shopping voucher for the emporium. The Challenge closes April 17 at 8pm MDT and I can't wait to see what everyone makes. Please note to enter the challenge you must have used the actual challenge product Ranger/Adirondack Color Wash.

I'm entering my canvas in the following challenges:

Artistic Stamper - Layers

Sunday Stamper #149 - Blue

Wild Orchid Crafts #21 - Wings

Simon Says Stamp And Show - Distressing

** Kate **

Egg-stravaganza!

I'm back with my last entry for the Magnolia-licious Highlites Easter/Spring Extravaganza with fab prizes sponsored by the Magnolia-licious Store.

It's for category #3 - Any Easter/Spring project that's not a card.

This little cage is from a charity shop, I think it is for hanging a candle in, but I managed to find an egg at M&S to put inside. I've converted one of my favorite Tilda stamps into an Easter image by replacing her strawberries with eggs. To continue with a kind of Spring farm feel I've added a Magnolia milk churn too. All coloured with Copics.

On one side I have found a little Prima dog to be her friend.

On the other side I have used paper from Websters Pages to add a wishing well. There's lots of flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and I've used the balloon stamp free from this month's Craft Stamper magazine to decorate the very top.

There's also a few butterflies, punched from the Websters paper and decorated with pearls.

Challenges:

Magnolia-licious Highlites - Category #3

Allsorts #98 - Anything but square

Fussy 'n' Fancy - For a child

Simon Says - Spring colours/Easter

Simon Says Stamp And Show - Anything but a card

Magnolia Stamp Lovers - Easter

Alter It Monthly - Spring

** Kate **

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Simply Sassy Guest DT

There is a new guest designer call at Simply Sassy and I couldn't resist having a go.

I've used 'Little light of mine' and coloured her with Copics. The sentiment has been printed on the computer, stamped around the edge with a BasicGrey mini stamp and then punched out.

The card base and stripey papers are from my current favorite Desert Blooms pad with the addition of a border from the new Sassafras release. The embossing is a Sizzix folder used on some grey Papermania white core card and Prima crystals have been used to finish off.

Challenges:

Simply Sassy GDT - Sketch

Stamp Man #20 - Embossing

Icopic #24 - Fancy background

Kaboodles Doodles #61 - Lets get girly

A Spoon Full Of Sugar #146 - Tons of texture

** Kate **

WOYWW and seeing red

I can't take a picture of any of my workspaces today as there is a top secret project underway that has to be kept under wraps. It's in my stamping corner, all over the overflow desk and I've dyed my hands purple!

I thought I would still share a couple of pictures today, they're both a bit red.First up I was unable to resist this polka dotted lovely for only £5 from JoJo Maman Bebe. It's one big bag, divided into 3 sections. The Children's laundry is going in it. Could this be the end of searching for missing socks? I doubt it!

Then there is the theme at Less Is More challenge #9 - a touch of red. I was late with a birthday card yesterday so I quickly dashed this off to the chap concerned.

The guitar is an Imaginisce stamp.

Don't forget to stop by Julia's blog to catch up on all the WOYWW goodness.

** Kate **

CAS Cards

A couple of 'Clean And Simple' (CAS) cards today.

The first is a touch of red for Less Is More challenge #9.

The red is Barn Door Distress Ink on a Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden stamp. It's an acrylic stamp which isn't usually happy with Distress ink, but I had already inked it with a chalk ink pad that was running out. I decided it wasn't dark enough and inked again with the Barn Door colour without cleaning in between. The result of all this was much better coverage with the Distress Ink.

The second stamp is an old DoCrafts one that hasn't seen the light of day for a very long time. Black ink was too dark and in the end I went for VersaMagic Ocean Depth, I do like my chalk inks!

Challenges:

Less Is More #9 - A touch of red

Creative Cottage #36 - White/blank space

My second CAS card is for the Daring Cardmakers challenge which is to use one of the flowers for April - either Daisies, Sweet Peas or even both.

I found this ancient DoCrafts stamp lurking with the one I used on the card above. It's stamped lots of times in Versafine ink along with a message from a Cardmaking and Papercraft free stamp set. I've coloured just one flower with Wild Honey and Spun Sugar Distress Inks.

Challenges:

Daring Cardmakers - April's flower

Allsorts #97 - Blooming blossoms

Oldie But A Goodie #16 - Anniversary

** Kate **

Magnolia-licious Category #2

Yesterday evening I posted my 1st entry into the Magnolia-licious Highlites Easter/Spring Extravaganza Contest sponsored by the Magnolia-licious store. Now I have my entry for the #2 category - Magnolia minis only with an Easter/spring theme.

I've stuck my neck out a bit here and gone for a clean and simple design, not something usually associated with Magnolia stamps.

Again I have had to adapt my mini Edwin to make him fit the theme. In this case I have chopped off the rose he was carrying and replaced it with an egg cut from another ancient Craft Stamper freebie. All the eggs and Edwins are coloured with Copics and the greeting at the top is an Alota stamp.

The background stamp is a new one from Pink Paislee taken from the Butterfly Garden set and stamped with Oasis Green VersaMagic ink.

Challenges:

Magnolia-licious Highlites - category #2

The Craft Garden - Four

Craft Your Passion #52 - Anything goes

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that the Magnolia-licious winners are going to be chosen by a voting system, so I will be dropping heavy hints and giving all the details once the voting opens!

** Kate **

Magnolia-licious Easter-Spring Extravaganza

At Magnolia-licious Highlites there is an Eater-Spring Extravaganza Contest going on at present, with 3 categories and (if my sums are correct) over $700 of vouchers to be won for mega shopping sprees at the Magnolia-licious Store. I've completed entries for 2 categories so far and thought I would blog them whilst I work on my third. (See the next post for category #2). Category #1 - Full sized Magnolia image - Easter/Spring theme. I don't have any Easter Magnolia's at all (obviously a gap in my supplies that I should rectify immediately!!), so I have adapted a sitting Tilda that I love and have used many times before. I've added Easter details cut from a stamp that was free with Craft Stamper magazine many, many moons ago. My background paper is from the new Trendsetter range by Websters Pages. Tilda is sat on a shape cut from a Nellie Snellen die and inked with Wild Honey Distress Ink. I've used Copics for colouring throughout. The bunting behind Tilda is from Sassafras. Just a quick word to express my disappointment with this product. It is advertised like this:BUT, it comes on a 12x12 sheet that is not even die-cut, you have to cut it all out yourself! A very misleading promotion of the product I think. Right, rant over. Challenges:

Magnolia-licious Highlites - Category #1

Just Magnolia #100 - Anything goes plus buttons (design team call)

Lets Ink It Up #12 - Easter

Crafts and Me #28 - Yellow

Craft Us Crazy #5 - Easter/Spring

Kaboodles Doodles #60 Spring has sprung

Back very soon with a different take on Magnolia stamps for my category #2 entry.

** Kate **

By The Cute And Girly - April #2

Just in case you missed it on Thursday, the new challenge has been announced at By The Cute And Girly and the theme for April is.....................................

'Cute and Girly!'

Here's my second make for this month.

I couldn't resist this little Mima Bug from Kirsty Wiseman, I think she's out of stock at the moment but her and some of her friends are due back in soon (I may have to get Petit Bug to keep her company). I've cut a mask using a Nellie Snellen die and inked through it and then stamped the image for the background. I then stamped again on white card, coloured with Promarkers and cut the image out minus the teddy.

I've been raving about the this designer cardstock ever since I found it last Saturday. It's lovely quality, half the stack is double sided and the other half is glittered. I've tried to catch the shimmer in this picture.

I was sold on it as soon as I saw the colours. I don't own a great many Promarkers, I just bought a few to experiment with, I chose the Autumn set which are exactly the colours used on this paper/card stack.

I've tied on a ribbon from Making Memories and the little heart charm is from Ebay. The greeting is from a free set of stamps that came with a magazine some time ago.

Challenges:

Wild Orchid #20 - Sketch

Bunny Zoe's #10 -Birthday plus pearls.

** Kate **

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

By The Cute And Girly - April #1

It's the 1st of April today but we're no fools over at By The Cute And Girly we know we like our crafts to be 'Cute and Girly' so that's the theme for the month of April! As usual there's lots of inspiration on the challenge blog and fab prizes to be won for sharing your 'Cute and Girly' makes. Here's my 1st make for the month, remember you can enter as many times as you like for the April theme as long as each project is of a different type, any and all crafts are welcome.

I've used the Ballet Digital Stamps from this month's digital sponsor My Grafico.

The papers are all from the Desert Blooms collection by Trimcraft, more about that tomorrow.

I've gone OTT with the embellishments and I don't think I could list where they were all from, but those most recently acquired were from Wild Orchid Crafts and Mei Flower.

I've used my favorite Copics for colouring and Stardust Stickles on the skirts. I love these images they are the actual design of my daughters ballet uniform and I have used colours to match.

Challenges:

Cooking It Up With Katie #55 - Sparkle, shimmer and shine

Digital Tuesday #104 - For the kids

Take A Word #22 - Blooms

Bling it on - Digi image plus bling

By The Cute And Girly sponsors for April:

Simon Says Stamp

Joanna Sheen

Little Snippets

My Grafico

This batch of cakes will get eaten and then I will refill the box for an end of term gift at the dance school. For details of how the box was made scroll down to the previous post.

** Kate **

Cake Tray Tutorial

Here's the details for making the very simple cake tray I used for one of my April By The Cute And Girly projects.

Take a piece of 12x12 cardstock, double sided patterned is nice or just a piece with block colour on both sides would work. I've used white on the example so that the marks show clearly.

Cut away 3 inches from one edge (save this to use for a handle, I halved mine so that it was 1.5x12 inches).

Score 2 inches in from each side of the remaining card. Score the squares in the corners diagonally, (I've drawn the line on the picture below to make it clear).Fold up all of the four sides with the diagonal corners pointing outwards, to make an 8x5 inch box. I used double sided tape inside the little triangle corners to hold the box together and then added holes for ribbons later.

That's it, leave a comment or e-mail me if anything doesn't make sense and I'll get back to you.

** Kate **